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this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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I don’t think were replacing plastic anytime soon but using materials smarter is always nice.
But we should, because plastic is made of oil. And that oil goes CO², be it because it's burned or because it rots away in nature.
Environmental stability is very important but we should master how we use materials, not discount their usefulness entirely, as that is more empowering to our species.
Like sure we can make oil cars outdated and that may be a good thing, but we’d still use it in grease.
There are many cases where a chemical had to be entirely replaced with a more targeted or less damaging variant because of environmental considerations. Most prominent being CTFE, because it affected the ozone layer.
I think grease is the better example. Interesting. Is it actually feasible to phase out crude oil?
Yeah, bad example, i rewrote my answer.
And yeah, i think so. Problem currently is, that alternatives are more expensive. That could be solved with oil production and export being appropriately taxed to the damages it causes.